Authorities working an undercover narcotics bust discovered a convicted child molester babysitting the children of suspected drug offenders.

Officials say that Michael Amico -- described by police as a “violent sexual predator" -- was living as an unregistered sex offender and working as a baby sitter, The Maine Sun Journal reports.

Authorities operating a drug sting in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, found Amico caring for two young children while their parents were out running errands.

Amico is on the state's sex offender registry for life and is forbidden from being in contact with children. The couple said they were not aware of Amico's past when they hired him to babysit.

“In the course of a couple of investigations, we learned about Michael Amico being around a couple of children, and we learned he was a sexual predator,” Sgt. Gerard Hamilton told the BDN Tuesday. “During the time we learned that he was living down here, he was supposedly saying [to the state] he was living up in the Augusta area.”

The operation is one of 12 drug busts leading to 46 arrests in the region over a four month period, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Amico is charged with prohibited contact with a minor and failing to alert the sex offender registry of his occupation change.

Walter Lee Williams, a former professor at the University of Southern California, was wanted for the alleged sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual acts with children. Williams was captured June 18, 2013 in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen.